Thursday, October 30 - Sunday, November 2

My schedule this week. On Thursday and Friday this week I am out of town, with limited email access at best (see previous announcements for details). I've replied to any emails people had sent me on Wednesday with general questions, and I've also replied to all the Storybooks that were turned in before Wednesday. You can still turn in a Week 9 Storybook assignment late for partial credit, but I won't be able to get comments back to you about those assignments until Monday when I'll be back in the office again. If you have questions about anything that comes up, definitely send me an email - and if I am not able to reply to you right away, I'll get back to you on Monday for sure.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN. Halloween is this Friday, of course, and I thought it would be appropriate to make a list of all the great "scary" Storybooks that people are doing this semester in case you wanted to find some good stories to read for Halloween. So, here are some of the ghostly and scary Storybooks that people are writing this semester - you will find all kinds of wonderful stories to read for the Halloween holiday!

• The Willowbranch Poisonings: Annie has actually finished her Storybook, so you can read about an chain of poisonings... with a special Halloween conclusion!
• Ghost Stories of Japan: Amanda has also finished her Storybook, which has four amazing Japanese ghost legends! Watch out for these dangerous dead ladies!
• Ghost Stories: A Skeptic Finding Truth: Are you brave enough to follow in the footsteps of ghosts all over the world! Mike's truth-seeking storyteller has no such fear!
• Scary Elevator Tales: Ready to be trapped in an elevator? On Friday the 13th? Welcome to Heather's scary Storybook!
• We Still Walk This Earth: In Shannon's Storybook, these ghosts walk among us in the Toys-R-Us store, and in your dormitory hallway. Watch out!
• Urban Legends Beyond the Grave: These are urban legends you have probably heard before... but Kyle has added a scary twist to each one, just to raise the fear factor!
• OKC Times Horror Stories: Don't think it could happen here? Think again! UCO student found slain - Bethany teens escape danger - read all about it in Zach's Storybook.
  
• Ghosts Beneath the Grave: Ghosts are haunting the town of St. Hallo, and your trusty reporter M. Larigot will tell you all about it in Rachel's Storybook.
  
• The Legend of the Kelpie: This is not a scary Storybook, but Kristen added a great scary story added especially for Halloween!

Waiting for the Great Pumpkin...

Wednesday, October 29

Today is Wednesday of WEEK 10 of the class. If you have not turned in your Week 9 Storybook assignment yet, you may still do that for partial credit. Wednesday morning, until noon, is the grace period if you forgot to do any of the assignments that were due on Tuesday.

My schedule this week. As previously announced, I will be out of town this week on Thursday and Friday, so my email access on those days will be limited at best. To make sure you get a reply from me, please contact me today, Wednesday, with any questions you have about anything in the class. If you contact me on Wednesday, I'll be sure to get back with you by the end of the day; for any emails that come in on Thursday or Friday, I may not be able to get back to you until Monday.

Storybook Stack. There are still some Storybook assignments in the stack and I am making my way through them in the order that they were turned in. If you turned something in on Sunday, you should have comments back from me already. If you turned something in later, on Monday or on Tuesday, it is probably still in the stack. If you want to check and make sure your assignment is in the stack, you can see the contents of the stack here. If you turn something in today, Wednesday, or later this week, it will stay in the stack until next Monday because of my schedule this week.

Spring 2009 enrollment. As mentioned in yesterday's announcements, please let me know today, Wednesday, if you would like me to reserve a seat for you in any of the online classes that I am teaching in the Spring: World Literature, Myth-Folklore and Indian Epics.

Govardhan Puja 2008. One of the most important festivals in the Hindu calendar is Diwali (or Deepavali), also known as the "Festival of Lights." The festival takes place over a five-day period, and you can read about all the stories and legends associated with each day of the festival in this Wikipedia article. Yesterday, October 28, was the main day of the Diwali festival. On October 29 is the celebration called Govardhan Puja, or Annakut, a holiday in honor of Lord Krishna who lifted up Mount Govardhan to save the people from Indra's flood, as he held the mountain above them like a giant umbrella. You can read about Mount Govardhan in this Wikipedia article, which is also the source for this image showing Krishna lifting the mountain (click here for a larger view):

Tuesday, October 28

Today is Tuesday of WEEK 10 of the class. For those of you who are working ahead, Weeks 11 and 12 are also available! If you have not turned in your Week 9 Storybook assignment yet, you may still do that for partial credit.

Storybook Stack. As usual at the beginning of the week, there are still LOTS of Storybook assignments in the stack. If you turned something in before 4PM on Sunday, you should have comments back from me already. If you turned something in later on Sunday or on Monday, it is probably still in the stack waiting for me to get to it. If you want to check and make sure your assignment is in the stack, you can see the contents of the stack here.

Spring 2009 enrollment. (Repeat announcement.) Apparently early enrollment has already started for Spring 2009 semester, since names have started to show up already on the Spring rosters. As I explained in an earlier announcement, because of the limited number of online classes, these courses tend to fill up really quickly. If you are interested in taking another online course with me in Spring, I'll be glad to save a place for you - just let me know by this Wednesday, October 29, so that I can reserve a place for you before regular enrollment gets underway. If you have friends who are interested in taking any of these online courses, let them know to fill out the waiting list form as soon as possible - there's an online waiting list form at each class website: World Literature, Myth-Folklore and Indian Epics.

My schedule this week. (Repeat announcement.) This week, I will be out of town on Thursday and Friday, October 30 and 31, with limited email access at best. So, if you want to get comments back on a Storybook assignment this week, please make sure you get your Storybook turned in today, on Tuesday. That way, I can return comments to you on Wednesday. You will still be able to turn in a late Week 9 assignment for partial credit on Wednesday or Thursday or Friday morning as usual - but I will probably not be able to get comments back to you until next week. So, if you don't want to wait on comments back from me, make sure you get your Storybook assignment turned in on Tuesday at the latest.

Tony Hillerman. As some of you have probably heard, the great American writer, Tony Hillerman, died on Sunday; he was 83 years old. Hillerman is best known for his mystery novels set on Indian reservations in the Southwest, often featuring characters from Navajo, Hopi and other Southwestern tribes, such as Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee, officers in the Navajo Tribal Police who are featured in many of his novels. You can read more about Hillerman in this obituary in the New York Times, and in this detailed Wikipedia article. He was actually born in Oklahoma and attended the University of Oklahoma, before eventually moving to New Mexico where he worked as a journalist and novelist. I am a big fan of Tony Hillerman - if you have never read any of his novels, you should give them a try: he was a truly great writer. This image shows an illustration from Tony Hillerman's Indian Country Map & Guide:

Monday, October 27

Today is Monday. Week 9 of the class is now over. Monday morning, until noon, is the grace period if you forgot to do any of the assignments that were due on Friday/Saturday/Sunday. Week 10 will begin tomorrow - and those assignments are available now if you want to get started. The Week 11 assignments are also available now, too! (Week 12 will be available tomorrow.)

My schedule this week. This week, I will be out of town on Thursday and Friday, October 30 and 31, with limited email access at best. So, if you want to get comments back on a Storybook assignment this week, please make sure you get your Storybook turned in on Monday or Tuesday. That way, I can return comments to you on Wednesday. You will still be able to turn in a late Week 9 assignment for partial credit on Wednesday or Thursday or Friday morning as usual - but I will probably not be able to get comments back to you until next week. So, if you don't want to wait on comments back from me, make sure you get your Storybook assignment turned in today, Monday, or on Tuesday at the latest.

Storybook stack. As always on Monday, I will have a huge bunch of assignments in the Storybook stack that were turned in over the weekend or on Monday morning. There were some serious problems with my OU email account over the weekend, so I would urge everyone to check on Monday to make sure I received any assignment you submitted via email. So, please, check the contents of the stack to make sure I received your assignment. I will be reading and replying to the assignments in the order they were turned in.

October 27: Birthday of Erasmus. Today marks the birthday in the year 1466 of the Desiderius Erasmus, one of the greatest scholars of the Renaissance. You can read about Erasmus's remarkable life and career in this Wikipedia article. Of all the great thinkers and scholars in the history of the world, Erasmus is my own personal hero. One of his books in particular has been very important in my own life - a huge collection of thousands and thousands of Latin proverbs, with little essays about each one, called the Adagia. Erasmus is also one of the most important figures in the history of critical editions of the Bible in Greek and in Latin. Below is a famous portrait of Erasmus by Hans Holbein the Younger; along the edge of the book facing the viewer the letters read "The Labors of Heracles" in Greek (ΗΡΑΚΛΕΙΟΙ ΠΟΝΟΙ = HERAKLEIOI PONOI), alluding to the amazing feats which Erasmus accomplished in his life as a scholar.